The Other Side of the Gateway
by fierywriter
Summary: I stare at them both for seconds that feel like hours, then the penny drops, and I realise what I'm seeing. "Alchemy." 'No alchemy doesn't exist, I wish that alchemy's real, but it isn't.' 'But that's alchemy, and that's Edward Elric... And he's fighting Scar." Autumn has always loved FMA, but what happens to her when a mysterious event sends Elric Brothers and Scar this world.
1. Prologue

**AN This my first fanfiction, it's set in the Brotherhood timeline, and begins during "Hidden Truths".**

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Prologue

—Third Person—

Ed and Al had just promised Major Armstrong that they wouldn't investigate the fifth laboratory. The Major had left them in their small cramped hotel room.

"Well, we'll stand guard outside, you two better get some rest, tomorrow we'll investigate the fifth lab," Lieutenant Ross said to them kindly. Maria Ross was quite motherly to the both of them as she spoke, but mid-sentence she remembered that Ed outranked her, so she ended with a formal salute. She then left the brothers in their room for privacy, practically dragging an utterly exhausted Sergeant Denny Brosh out with her.

Ed slumped onto his bed and sighed, as his bodyguards' shut the door on their way out.

"Hey Al...?"

"Yeah, Brother?" Al turned to face his older brother. Ed didn't want Ross and Brosh to discover his plan, so he simply gestured to the window with his head. "Oh," replied Al with realisation, "okay."

Ed proceeded to nearly jump from the unmade bed, and land lightly on the wooden floor. He placed his finger over his lip, signaling that they should make as little noise as possible. Going to the window as silently as possible, Ed assessed the best way to the streets. He proceeded to retrieve a length of rope from under the bed he slept on. He tied it to the windowsill and climb down to the street. Al merely leaped to the ground making a loud mechanical clanking noise.

Ed recalled the general direction of the fifth laboratory from the map. He ran down the street.

"This way," he said to Al, who was following closely behind him.

After some time Ed was sure that they were nearing the fifth laboratory. Then Edward heard the sound of another set of fast-moving footsteps. He stopped. The sound neared the brothers, along with the shadowed figure it belonged to.

"Where is it?!" Asked the shadowed figure in a deep commanding voice.

"Where's what?" Ed didn't even know who this guy was, but he sounded urgent.

"The way out," both brothers were extremely confused.

"Way out of where? Central?" Asked Al, wanting to help this man.

"No, the portal. The way out of this realm."

"Uh, we don't know what you're talking about," Ed just wanted to get to the fifth lab, this guy sounded crazy, he didn't see a point in talking to him.

"It was just here! What did you do with my portal? If you're trying to stop me from completing my task, you will see my wrath!"

"Sir, it's okay, we don't want to stop you," reassured Al.

"They took it! Children took my portal! They want to stop me! No matter I can summon another portal."

"Al, lets go. This guy's crazy, and we need to get to the fifth lab."

"Brother, that's mean, we should help this man." The man in question was now frantically muttering to himself.

Clouds that were covering the full moon, moved and the street brightened slightly. They saw that the man had long dark hair and was wearing a long brown coat. The man had a necklace with a single glowing red stone tied to it.

'A philosopher's stone,' thought Ed, 'why would this weirdo have a philosopher's stone?'

The man grabbed hold of the stone with his right hand.

"I MUST HAVE MY PORTAL!" The man all but screeched the almost incoherent words. Both brothers were bewildered as they were suddenly drowned in red light. The sound of a transmutation could barely be heard before they were enveloped in whiteness.

Ed stood alone in the whiteness, his younger brother nowhere in sight. He saw the huge gate and realised where he was.

"Back again so soon," he turned and behind him was the Truth.

"Why am I here? I didn't attempt human-transmutation, so what do you want?"

"Oh I want nothing... But the toll has been paid, you remember the theory of equivalent exchange, right?"

"Of course I do."

"Once the toll is paid you will cross the Gate, you will see the Truth." The Gate opened, black hands spilling out, they dragged Ed inside. As he was pulled inside the gate he saw the Truth sat in the whiteness. He was dragged through it and awoke on the other side.

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**Thanks sooo much for reading. Please review, favourirte or follow.**


	2. Chapter 1

**AN Here's chapter 1, my OC is introduced in this chapter.**

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Chapter 1

—Autumn Bishop's POV—

"Ugh, this is sooo boring," I complain. My mum— who's oblivious to this comment— is busy browsing through colourful dresses and shirts on the clothing rack. We're shopping. I can imagine my little sister cheering at the thought of shopping; I on the other hand see it as being dragged through a tormenting living Hell. Mum is repeatedly showing me dresses that are "the height of fashion". Mum is quite into fashion, but I can't care less— why wear uncomfortable "fashionable" outfits when you could wear a perfectly comfortable pair of jeans, I don't get her reasoning. At the moment my mum looks so happy though, she's smiling, her perfect white teeth reminiscent of the pure white tiles bellow us. Her teeth are like those of a celebrity, unlike mine, which gave me the nickname at school, "Train-tracks", for reasons you can probably guess. Mum and I are almost polar opposites, in personality and looks; I guess I just take after my dad, although my mum and me do share the exact same big greyish blue eyes.

I can barely concentrate, as the fluorescent lighting is burning my eyes, and giving me a headache. My mum is leading me through the blindingly bright store, while my left arm is shielding my face and eyes from the painful light.

"How 'bout this, Autumn?" My mum asks holding a white dress-shirt in my face; she's trying to use my temporary light-induced blindness to her advantage.

"I think Hell freezing over is more likely," she puts it back on the rack and sighs disappointedly.

"What about this?" She's now holding a light pale lavender dress, through the gap under my arm I glimpse the gleeful optimistic grin taking up her face.

"I don't wear dresses," I reply in a monotone.

"It's your grandparents fiftieth anniversary tomorrow, and tomorrow night we're all going to celebrate, you have to wear a dress."

"At home I have some spectacular jeans, an amazing red shirt, and a marvelous black hoodie, why can't I wear them?"

"You need to be dressed nicely, and I think it will be good for you to broaden your colour spectrum."

"Why? I think what I wear is great. "

"It is, but not for a formal occasion," She smiles again.

"C'mon, let's leave, I'll try to find something to wear that we can compromise on tomorrow."

"Okay then, " Mum gives in, and we finally finish our shop.

As we leave the shop, we have to exit through the shopping centre— do these places ever end?— It's around 8pm, the sun has set, and there are few shoppers.

"I see the light of da... The, uh, street lamps," I say dramatically as we near the exit, "from the infernal fires of Hell, there is refuge of the outside world. My suffering is coming to a close."

"Stop being so dramatic."

"Stop putting me in near death situations."

"It was only shopping."

"It was only Hell."

"Summer would've loved to have come shopping with me."

"Well I'm not Summer, don't mix up your children." Summer is my younger sister, yeah I know what you're thinking, my mum is a psychopath who decided to name her three daughters after the seasons. I'm the oldest and Winter is the youngest at twelve-years-old.

We make it outside; the cool night air is welcoming to me, in it I smell the refreshing but salty scent of seawater, and the delicious odor of fish and chips from nearby. These fragrances are somewhat unfamiliar to me, as I've never lived by the beach, but at the same time I know them well, it's so strange that something so foreign can become the norm in a matter of days.

"Autumn do you know where I parked the car?"

"I knew it was to good to be true, our eternal suffering shalt continue until the day of in which our souls may be spared."

"What are you going on about now?"

"I'm just spouting meaningless crap before my mind processes it."

"I can see that."

"Hey, don't say I'm spouting meaningless crap."

"Autumn, you make zero sense sometimes."

"Thank you," I reply, half serious and half trying to confuse her even more.

After the longest few minutes of my life we make it to the car, I couldn't tell you what type of car it is, as I don't know the first thing about cars. "Drive! Drive! Drive!" I command my mum as I jump into the passenger seat. Mum ignores my antics, especially as we are near shops, something that can make me go a little crazy. We drive to my grandparents' house, my dad is on a business trip and my mum thought it would be a good idea for us to stay at her parent's house— code for: her being too afraid to stay in our house alone—. The idea was brilliant in the sense that I get to miss out on school for the next week, but not so brilliant in the sense that I have to be around people. I'm not entirely antisocial, I just don't like people or spending time with them. I prefer to read, watch anime, write— fan fiction or otherwise— and play a vast number of online games.

The drive seems long, though the view is pleasant. It's a lot quieter here than home, there's none of the city noises and extreme traffic that I'm used to, just the sound of gentle waves. I'm no too focused on the road; the heavenly scenery is just too captivating. Eventually I turn my head to face the road, and zone out. Soon after, someone appears in the middle of the road. My mum swerves violently, while trying to avoid them. "Check to see if we hit them." We pull over. I get out of the car, and Mum soon follows suit. The person —we may or may not have hit— is small; they're lying on the road, most likely unconscious... Or dead. I shake the thought away. The coat they're wearing is blood red; I hope that it isn't really blood. I go over to them to check their breathing and pulse. When not near a shopping centre, I can be quite calm and levelheaded. I examine them for a moment, finding no signs of being hit; maybe luck is on my side, for once. I look over them again carefully... Wait, are they cosplaying? What person cosplays in the middle of the road, alone?

Awesome! Another FMA fan! I put my fingers on the Edward-Elric-cosplayer's neck and check their pulse.

"Are they okay?" Asks Mum.

"No injures, their pulse is a little slow, and they're unconscious, but besides that they're fine."

"Do you think we should take them to a hospital?" What do I look like, an expert? I'm fifteen, I should be asking her things like that. I want to tell her this, but now isn't the time for that sort of thing, I guess I should just answer her.

"Nah, they're not injured so there's no point. Though we can't just leave them."

"We'll take them with us until they wake up. Help me lift them." She says while walking towards me. Mum double-checks their pulse. She wraps her arms around their shoulders and lifts. I grab their legs to help my mum out. Once we make it back to the car, Mum places them in the back seat, sat upright. I put their seatbelt on them, and proceed to get back into the passenger seat myself.

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—Third Person—

As Autumn and her mum carried Ed to their car there was a bright flash of red light. They were both so accustomed to bright lights in the city that they didn't take any notice of it. The light crackled like electricity contained in a circle, and in it appeared a large eye. From the eye emerged the younger Elric brother who made a metallic clank as he hit the ground. Unlike his brother, Al was conscious and fully aware of his surroundings. The electric light faded and so did the strange eye. Al saw Ed being lifted into the car, and ran towards him. Though his reactions and movements were reasonably slower than usual.  
"Brother!" He exclaimed, but by the time he reached the car, it began to drive. Al started to follow it, but it sped up, and in a matter of moments it was gone from sight.

Al walked to the side of the road, and sat on the dirt.

'_It's okay, brother will come back for me, I just have to wait.' _ Then he began to feel drowsy, which was strange, seeing as his armoured body cannot feel fatigue or tiredness. He tried to escape the unrelenting exhaustion that was starting to creep over him. Al was determined to wait for Ed, but this didn't seem like normal tiredness, and eventually he blacked out.

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—Autumn Bishop's POV—

This guy— whoever he is— is lying on one of the twin beds in the spare room I'm staying in, as there aren't any other beds left. He's a pretty heavy sleeper, neither carrying him nor the car ride had woken him. I wonder who the hell he is, why he was lying in the middle of the road, and I want to know why he's dressed as Edward Elric.

I sit on my bed, and grab the big thick volume I've been reading from underneath my bed. I read my book for sometime, maybe three or four hours, all I know is that when I finish, it's deep into the night. I put down my book. I'm about to turn off my light, but I realise how hungry I am. I ate dinner before I was forced into shopping, but that was like five hours ago. So instead of going to sleep I head to the kitchen in a search for food.

I'm not the most skilled cook— understatement, I'm a terrible cook— so I don't know what I'm going to eat. I scavenge through the fridge for leftovers. I find half a chocolate mud cake and a Tupperware container full of pasta.

"Yay, now I don't have to starve," I exclaim to the empty room. "Everyone here is boring, all going to sleep so early, the night is young." I cut myself a few slices of cake and reheat the pasta in the microwave. The microwave beeps and I grab the pasta container hurriedly without thinking. "Shit!" I curse and drop the container on the ground; I wasn't expecting it to be that hot.

It's lucky pasta! I guess tonight is full of usually nonexistent luck. It landed the right way, meaning: I can still eat it! I pick it up, grab an icy coke from the fridge, and grab my plate of cake, then walk back to the spare room. Then, realising that I need a fork, I head back to the kitchen and retrieve one. Once in my room, I sit on my bed and dig into the steaming hot pasta. "Oh-my-God! This is sooo good!" My mouth's full, so what I actually said was probably gibberish, but couldn't care less.

"Uh... Where am I?" I jump outta my skin— metaphorically— and almost choke on the steaming pasta. I forgot that someone else is in here.

"I found you passed out in the road so I brought you here, because we kinda almost hit you with our car, sorry. But you probably would've died if we didn't bring you here, someone else might not have missed."

"Oh."

I continue with my pasta, then after an awkward silence stop.

"Why are you cosplaying?"

"Cos-what-ing?" What did he hit his head, or is he just retarded?

"You know, dressing up as a fictional character. It's a good costume, looks realistic, not blindingly bright and obviously fake."

"Who am I supposed to be dressed up as?" Yeah, retarded.

"Uh... Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist... From the anime... Manga... Whatever."

"Firstly, my name _is_ Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and secondly, I'm not a fictional character."

"What?"

At first I'm shocked, then I think that he really is retarded, then I realise he's messing with me.

"I am Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." He looks like Edward Elric sure, and so what that he sounds like him— it just has to be great cosplaying. I'll make the idiot prove he's not the Fullmetal Alchemist, which will make him stop messing with me. But how can I prove it? Maybe get him to show me his state alchemist pocket watch... No that's a real stupid idea; even I have a plastic state alchemist watch. Wait... I've got an idea.

"Prove it. Show me your automail," I say flatly. An impossible thing, now that I've outsmarted him, he'll stop trying to screw with my head.

"Sure."

"What?"

"Sure, I'll show you." I'm completely flustered, but I have to call his bluff.

"Go on then."

He gets off the bed and stands. He rolls up his right sleeve and left pant-leg. "Oh my fucking God! That's automail!"

_'Wait, think rationally Autumn,'_ I think to myself.

_'I am being rational!'_

_'No you're not, it's probably just fake.'_

_'Great. Now I'm arguing with myself.'_ I try to remain rational, skeptical and above all calm. "Can you prove that it's real?"

"Not really..."

"So it's fake then. "

"It's not. Its just automail, why do you think that it's fake? "  
"I guess there's only one way to prove it," I say more to myself than to him. "Show me alchemy. "

"Uh, okay, " the tone in his voice suggested that he found it a strange request, but not in the way I would've expected. He was way to nonchalant about alchemy, he looks at me like I asked him to blink or something as normal as blinking. Then before I can say anything, he claps his hands and presses them to the wooden floor.

For a second I think something will happen, but before anything does, he collapses to the ground and passes out— possibly from exhaustion.

"Ugh... He's probably drunk, or high... Or just tired." I sigh. "Well whichever it is, I can't exactly leave him on the floor." I grab his shoulders and attempt to drag him back onto the bed; I don't manage to though. "I never thought someone my size could be so heavy," I complain. I drop him back on the ground, how can he sleep through that? I sit back onto my bed, I'm not that nice a person that I'll go out of my lazy ways to lift a heavy person.

I instantly start devouring my food. Once finished, I leave the Tupperware, fork, and can on my bedside table— I'll put it away in the morning, maybe. I look to "Edward Elric", even if he is crazy, at least there's another FMA fan here, as I see it, you can never be with enough FMA fans, even if they are insane.

I get changed into my pyjamas, light grey trouser pants, and a long red and black striped shirt. I turn off my light, then lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. I'm a chronic insomniac; it's almost impossible for me to sleep, even when I try. Eventually, maybe hours later, I drift off. My sleep doesn't last long, it feels like seconds, but my digital clock states that I was asleep for an hour. I guess I'm nocturnal, I never feel tired once the sun goes down.

I stand and wander around the dark house. I walk from the bedroom, down the hallway, passing various other rooms, and head downstairs. This house is bigger than my own, but most of it's many rooms are used for storage. I turn the corner to what assume is the lounge, I can't see well, as my eyes haven't completely adjusted yet.

'_Maybe I should just sit down.'_ I walk in the direction of where I think the couch is. Before I get to the couch, I trip over something, and land on my face. I hate this house, I think it wants to kill me, with it's inconveniently placed furniture and floral curtains... Just thinking about it all sends chills down my spine... Maybe I'm being slightly over dramatic again.

I get up; I hope the carpet was soft enough for the fall to have not left a bruise. I rub my face, and then return to the spare room. I force myself to shut my eyes as I lie on my bed, even if I don't sleep, it's better than wandering the house in the dark. By the time the sun rises, I can't remember if I slept or not. It's a new day, well technically it's been a new day for the past six hours, but when the sun rises it's official. I watch the sunrise from my window; it's beautiful. I want to watch it forever, it's just so captivating, like the flame from a candle times a trillion.

Suddenly I feel an arm around my neck. I gasp from shock.

"Who are you?" It's the voice of the Edward-Elric-cosplayer; he sounds scarily like the real thing. "Where am I? What am I doing here? And where the Hell is my brother?"

"I-I, um... I, uh..." I don't know what he's talking about, he's crazy or something.

'What do I do? Do I tell him that I don't understand? What am I supposed to do? What if he kills me?' I feel his grip tighten; I think I'm going to die. I never would have believed that I would be murdered, especially by someone dressed up as Edward Elric.

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**Thanks for reading, and reviews/ follows/ favourites are really appreciated. If you find any errors or mistakes please tell me about them I want to improve my writing.  
**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN I'm so sorry that I haven't posted this chapter sooner, I had exams at school for the last few weeks so I found it hard to find time to write this, plus writers block was slowly destroying my mind. I've only been able to concentrate on this since I got my exam results back the other day, I really shouldn't have stressed myself out over those stupid exams. Thanks a lot to everyone who's reviewed, favourited, followed and even read this, you all deserve virtual hugs, bacon and chocolate for doing any of those four things. Anyway here's the new chapter.**

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Chapter 2

—Autumn Bishop's POV—

As I feel his grip tighten I get scared, it's not like I wasn't scared before, it's just now I'm sure I'll die. Will dying hurt? I'm shaking with sheer terror at the thought of death. Tears run down my cheeks, my eyes are hot and they sting. What will my family do if I die? I don't see myself living through this, and I know it sounds arrogant to think my life is really that important, but I don't think my family would cope with me dying. I have a mental vision of my family wearing all black and weeping at my graveside. The vision is so clear that it could be real. I see the sorrow in my younger sisters' eyes, in my vision my dad's crying, I've never seen my dad cry. I have to live through this for them, and to be honest, for myself, I don't want to die.

'_I'm supposed to live, supposed to go to college, to move out, get a job, supposed to travel the world, maybe someday I'll fall in love, get married, have children, I'm not supposed to die here. I won't die here.' _I'm determined to live. I have to do something. I won't let myself be killed here.

"P-please," I manage to choke out the words, "d-d-don't kill me." Tears and sweat continue to flood down my face. "P-p-please." He lets go and I fall to the ground, the soft carpet cushioning my fall. I'm glad I'm alive, so grateful that I survived.  
"I wasn't going to kill you, and I won't kill you, or anyone else ever." I wipe away most of both the sweat and tears from my face.

"Why d-did you do it then?" I try to sound confident and brave, but in reality I sound like a terrified little girl, much younger than my fifteen years.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't re-realise what I was doing—"

"How couldn't you... Couldn't you realise what you were doing?" I'm angry now, as well as afraid, that's a truly pathetic excuse.

"I-I didn't mean to hurt you." I rub the back of my neck and look back up at him. His eyes are wide and full of pure fear, shouldn't I be the one feeling scared? I know I was a few seconds ago, but the frightened look in his eyes dwarfs my terror by comparison. His breathing is frantic and his gloved hands are shaking violently. I realise that he's afraid, not of me, but of himself, he obviously isn't okay with the thought of killing someone.  
"You're afraid," I state. His eyes narrow, he's unhappy about being called afraid, and then noticing the pinkish marks around my neck his eyes soften. He nods, just one simple slight lift and drop of his head.

"Yeah," he agrees quietly, closing his eyes then looking down, his golden bangs hiding his eyes. His hands are in fists at his sides.  
"I can imagine how it would've felt... But you overreacted, and you've got to imagine how I felt just then, even if you weren't going to kill me, I didn't know that."

"I understand."

I stand so that I'm at eye level with him. He moves his head back upwards. His eyes are pure gold, and if I didn't know better, I would say that he really is Edward Elric, but he's just some random guy in cosplay, who my mum almost ran over. "And I'm so sorry," he says. I have a sudden realisation, like an epiphany.  
"I know I'm going to sound like the crazy one now, but it wasn't your fault." His expression is that of pure shock. "I'm not saying I forgive you for strangling me, but it was your fight-or-flight response. You woke up in a strange place in the dark, with no knowledge of where you are, or how you got here. I explained it all last night, but you passed out, so maybe you forgot... Anyway you were fearing for your life, that triggered your fight-or-flight response, which triggered an adrenaline rush."

"Last night?"

'_Thanks for listening to my scientific explanation, I'm sooo glad that you didn't brush it off like I didn't say anything,'_ I reply mentally and sarcastically.  
"So, you don't remember?" The confused look on his face confirms it, "my mum almost hit you with our car, we brought you back here, and after a couple of hours you woke up. When you woke up you were slightly crazy, making all kinds of weird claims; I've got to admit that you seem more sane now —even though you tried to kill me— than you did last night."  
"What kind of things did I say?"  
"You were trying to convince me that something fictional was real."  
"Oh."  
"I'll have my mum drive you home in a little while, but first I've gotta get dressed," he just stands there, "that's code for: get the hell outta here!" He leaves the room, and I sigh.

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—Third Person (Roy Mustang's POV)—

Back in Amestris, Colonel Roy Mustang was falling asleep over a large pile of unfinished paperwork in his office. He was struggling to get through all of the paperwork he had, even with a deadline pressing.

'_Give me a corpse to scorch any day, but giving me paperwork is completely dragging me out of my comfort zone,' _he thought sleepily to himself, when he was jolted into full consciousness by the brass phone on his desk ringing loudly. He picked up the receiver, and placed it to his ear.  
"There's a Lieutenant Colonel Hughes on hold for you, sir."

"Put him through," he sighed, "Hughes, this better not be about your daughter."  
"No, it's not anything like that," Hughes sounded much more serious than usual, Mustang knew instantly that something was seriously wrong.  
"What is it?"  
"The Elrics... They're missing."  
"What?!"  
"Major Armstrong's men, the ones guarding the two of them, reported the Elric brothers as missing earlier this morning, apparently they disappeared late last night." Mustang already had his hands full with the Scar case, but he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let the Elric brothers die. He even had the suspicion that Scar had escaped East City and gone to Central with the intent of killing Fullmetal.  
"I'm going to Central, I'll help look for them." The two military officials concluded their phone call and Mustang immediately called Lieutenant Hawkeye.

"Hello," Hawkeye answered on the first ring.  
"Lieutenant, I'm going to Central. Fullmetal and Alphonse are missing; I'm going help search for them."  
"Do you want me to go with you, sir?"  
"No, I want you and Lieutenant Havoc to stay here and lead the Scar investigation; on the off chance he's still in chance he's still in East City."

"Sir." Mustang could almost hear the salute through the phone line. "Anything else?"

"No, that's all. I'm catching the first train to Central, so goodbye Lieutenant."  
"Bye." Mustang heard the line go dead, as Hawkeye hung up. He put the receiver back down on the desk. Then he grabbed his long dark coat from where it was haphazardly draped over his desk chair. He donned his coat, then left his office, and headed for the train station.

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—Autumn Bishop's POV—

I exit my room. I'm now wearing jeans and a dark blue shirt, my clothing choices are in complete contrast to my long and unbrushed red hair. Once in the hallway I realise that the crazy cosplayer is nowhere to be seen. I head downstairs and into the kitchen. Before I even open the kitchen door I smell bacon...

'_Bacon, the one temptation that can make even the most extreme vegan stray from their path,' _I think to myself. I push open the light wooden door with my left hand. By this point my mouth is practically watering, the smell of bacon and eggs is much stronger in here. The smell alone is making me feel starving. Now that I'm in the kitchen I also hear the crackling of bacon frying, and see my grandmother frying bacon over the stove.  
"Morning, Autumn," says my grandmother while turning to face me, her blue eyes boring into my own. I direct my eyes toward the bacon. The bacon is my goal. "Hungry?"  
"Uh-huh," I reply, while nodding.  
"Go sit to the table then, and I'll bring you your breakfast." I walk to the end of the long cheerful looking kitchen, to the dining room.

As I open the door and enter the room, I trip over a loose bit of carpet. As I fall, I flail my arms wildly. My upper right torso collides with a wooden chair. The pain reverberates through my shoulder and lower torso. I continue to feverishly wave my arms around. My left arm smashes into the chair's back, tipping the chair over, and as I'm using it as a support, it causes me to come crashing to the ground along with it. A millisecond after the chair hits the floor, my forehead slams into it's wooden back.  
"Dammit, ugh." I lie there for a few seconds.  
"Autumn, are you okay?" I hear my grandmother ask with worry.  
"I think she's dead," Summer replies.  
"This house is a freaking death trap," I complain as I sit up, holding my hand to my head, "I won't last another five days, I almost died." My younger sister pulls out a chair, and sits on it, facing me.  
"It's not the house's fault that you're so clumsy," says Summer.  
"I'm not clumsy, this fuu— freaking house wants to kill me. It's devised an elaborate plan for my demise, so don't be surprised when I "accidentally" fall down the stairs and die." My grandmother sighs, then returns to the kitchen.

I get up, and prop the chair back up. "I think I deserve a lot of bacon after that." I thrust myself onto the chair, crossing my arms. Then I hear something snap and I'm falling backwards. I hit the ground.  
"The back leg broke," Summer informs me coolly. I'm still in a sitting position on the chair.  
"I'm not paying for that."  
"Autumn, you're officially the clumsiest person I've ever met."  
"I really am unlucky, that damn pasta was a fluke." I stand.  
"Pasta?"  
"Never mind," I reply while getting as far away from that demon-chair as possible. I go back to the kitchen.

"Oh Autumn, you're bacon and eggs are ready." Says my grandmother, holding a large plate of bacon and fried eggs.  
"Finally, all that bad stuff was because of the luck I have at getting bacon, equivalent exchange." I snatch the plate of bacon out of her hands, then I rummage through a drawer, producing a knife and fork.

Then I have to decide where to eat my bacon. The isolated lounge at the back of the house seems like the perfect place, it even contains the only T.V in this stupid house, but I clearly remember an inconveniently placed piece of furniture in there trying to kill me last night. I decide to sit in the living room situated at the very front of the house. I enter the room with caution, manoeuvring to hold my plate and open the door. As soon as I open the door I see the cosplayer glued to his seat with... Fear? I plump onto the couch, and balance my breakfast on my lap.  
"So, what's up, Ed?" His eyes widen.

"How do you know my name? I haven't told you it yet." My mouth bursts open with laughter.  
"That's really your name? Or are you just being stupid again?"  
"That's really my name," he looks pissed at my laughter.  
"Sorry, it's just the irony." I hold my fork in my right hand and my knife in my left, and begin to devour my food.

"What irony!?" He demands.  
"If my hands weren't already full, I'd facepalm right now."  
"What do you mean!?"  
"Don't yell at me. Don't you remember the piercing guilt you felt at strangling me? Almost killing someone, means you can't argue with their logic, plus it means you owe them."  
"You almost ran me over!"

"Touché, I guess we're even now, let's pretend none of that happened. Now for a spectacular subject change, why'd you look so scared when I walked in?"

"You're mom told me not to move from this spot until she gets back."

"Yay! Finally someone understands how bipolar everyone in my family is. My mum acts nice and motherly, 'till she's pissed off, then you understand she's a demon in a human guise."  
"Well, she kinda reminded me of my teacher."  
"You have a pretty scary teacher then."

Then there's an awkward silence. "Is that really your hair?" He's taken off guard by my random question, "or is it a wig?"  
"Why?"  
"Just curious, it looks so real."  
"It is."  
"Oh my God, it's awesome! How long did it take to grow it? How'd you get the braid so neat? What conditioner do you use? Wait, how'd you get the antenna cowlick thingy like that?" I think I asked too many questions, good thing he's not really Edward Elric, because I'd be asking a lot more questions than that. At that moment my mum enters the room, she looks at Ed.  
"Okay, I'm taking you home now," she smiles and turns to face me, "Autumn, do you want to go with me?" I shove the remaining bacon into my mouth.  
"Sure." Mum turns back to Ed.  
"Where do you live?"  
"Just drive me to where you found me, I can find my own way back."  
"Fine."

We leave the living room, and get out of the house. I walk to the car nonchalantly, but realise that Ed is just standing and staring at the vehicle in awe.  
"What is that?"

"A self-propelled road vehicle designed to carry passengers, it is also called an automobile, but it's commonly referred to as a car."  
"I know what a car is, I've just never seen a car like that before."  
"Welcome to the twenty-first century," I say, then I climb into the passenger seat. He cautiously gets in the back. "I know I sound like my mum, but put your goddamned seatbelt on."  
"Seatbelt?"  
"See that strap thingy, pull the thingy on it towards that buckle thing next to you and plug it in," he does as I say. I turn back to face forward. My mum starts the car and we drive.  
"I've never been in a car this fast either." I turn to Ed; he's gripping the bottom of his seat tightly.

"We're not going that fast. Actually we're going really slow," I'm confused at his definition of fast.

"This isn't slow."  
"Well prepare yourself, we're about to go a lot faster."

After a short drive, we get to the spot where we found him. By this point Ed is basically hugging his chair. There are tire marks on the road where my mum swerved last night. Ed gets out of the car looking puzzled. I get out and go towards him.  
"I don't recognise this place at all."  
"Well just tell us where you live and we'll drive you there."  
"It doesn't matter, I was with my younger brother, he'll probably find me anyway," I have the feeling that he only said that to avoid going back in the car. "Thanks for the help."

"Thanks for strangling me."  
"Thanks for almost running me over, with that speeding death machine."

"I thought we'd pretend that never happened."  
"Bye." He waves, I wave back, and I get back in the car. My mum drives away.

* * *

—Third Person—

"Those children used up my portal, why would they do that? They want to kill me. They're trying to trap me, but I will not be trapped in this realm. What if they weren't really children? What if they were some of those things? They were trying to trick me, but I am not a fool, a fool is not what I am." The man in the brown coat sat in a dark alleyway in Central, muttering to himself. "I must find a sacrifice now, before those things find me. As long as I still have my stone I can travel through this realm without worry, so I can find the perfect sacrifice in moments. I must find a warrior, whose hands are stained with blood, with fresh wounds of a close encounter with that which isn't human. I shall find this perfect sacrifice and let my portal devour them."

* * *

—Third Person (Edward Elric's POV)—

Ed was growing more confused. He didn't know where he was. The car he rode in was strange; and the actual road was even strange. Nothing here was normal. He assumed that Al would be here, but he would have noticed a seven-foot tall suit of armour. Ed walked off the road and sat down. He waited for a long time, wondering about what to do. Then from under him, a complex transmutation circle suddenly glowed bright red.  
"What the..." A familiar eye swirled open in the middle of it. When the light began to die down Ed saw a person appear from out of the eye. He could barely see them through the blinding light, but they thrust their arm towards him. The light faded and Ed recognised the person standing before him. Red eyes met his own gold ones, and their scarred face was unmistakable, in front of Ed stood Scar.

* * *

**AN Autumn really doesn't understand the law of Equivalent Exchange in regards to bacon, nothing is equal to bacon, it's value can't be equalled. Again I'm sorry about the delay in updating, I'll try to finish the next chapter ASAP. Thanks for reading, and reviews/ follows/ favourites are really appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 3

**AN 12 followers, 10 reviews, 8 reviewers, 6 favourites, I'm not worthy of them... So I said I would update ASAP... 2 months later I actually update... I don't know what to say... I said sorry last chapter and I believe over-using a word makes it lose it's meaning... But I'll say it anyway: I'm so SORRY! I feel terrible :( I feel really upset/pissed off when someone takes a long time to update something even if I don't like it, so I know how you feel, which makes me feel worse! I don't even have a good excuse, I finished and edited this chapter ages ago, I just forgot to actually update it...**

**It was my birthday a couple of days ago, so I'll give you all virtual birthday cake, but I doubt it'll make up for this terrible delay in updating. Again sorry, I'll just get on with the story.**

* * *

Chapter 3

―Third Person (Edward Elric's POV)―

Ed was shocked at the sight of the scarred Ishvalan. He subconsciously noticed that Scar's head and right arm were injured, although Ed knew that Scar could easily kill him, even when injured.

'_Scar! What the fuck is he doing here? And what was that transmutation circle for? I've never seen one like it...'_ Ed's thoughts were cut off as Scar thrust his right hand at the young alchemist. Ed jumped backwards just before Scar's hand came into contact with him.

"Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric, here we meet again. God is truly on my side as he has brought me to yet another heretic State Alchemist to place judgment on."

Scar tensed his right hand. Ed ran, he wasn't usually one to run away, but he knew from experience that it was good for him to keep his distance from Scar when fighting him. Once Ed was― in his opinion― at a far enough distance from Scar, Ed turned on the spot; he clapped his hands together, and then slammed them to the ground. Blue alchemical light instantly crackled like electricity around his palms. Then the road zoomed upwards towards Scar, Ed hoped it would send him flying, but Scar simply deconstructed it to a pile of rubble.

"Dammit!" Yelled Ed as Scar charged at him once again. Scar lunged towards Ed's head, Ed ducked to the ground, and Scar missed him by millimetres.

'_I guess there are advantages to being short... NO! I'M NOT A TINY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!...'_ Ed rolled to his left, and jumped back to his feet.

Ed clapped his hands, transmuting his automail arm into a blade, and discarding his ripped right glove. He launched himself at Scar, who planted his right hand into the ground, deconstructing the road underneath Ed. Ed fell backwards, momentarily giving Scar the upper hand. Scar stood over Ed, and propelled his destructive hand toward him. Ed quickly rolled out of the way. He got back up. Ed transmuted his automail back to it's normal state, he then clapped his hands and transmuted part of the road into about a dozen spikes that hurtled towards Scar. Scar easily deconstructed them, and then continued to charge at Ed.

Scar thrust his right hand of destruction towards Ed again, this time aiming for Ed's automail arm. Ed dodged Scar's attack. He transmuted several hands from the road that travelled towards Scar. The Ishvalan destroyed them with ease, and then lunged at Ed, but Ed evaded his attack by flipping backwards onto his flesh hand in a way similar to a one handed cartwheel. Ed was beginning to feel fatigued― while he observed that Scar seemed unfazed― he knew that if he continued to fight he would die. Ed needed the fight to end, his brain worked fiercely trying to find a way to escape Scar's wrath, while his body fought hard to stay uninjured.

* * *

―Autumn Bishop's POV―

"Autumn, come down here a second," calls my mum from downstairs.

"There's this thing called: 'letting your daughter watch anime in peace'," I say under my breath as I remove my headphones and close my laptop. I leave my laptop on my bed and head downstairs. I'm half way down the stairs when I see my mum. "What is it?" I ask in an obviously pissed off tone, no-one interrupts my anime, no-one.

"Do you wanna go out for a drive with me?" She's too cheery, she's even smiling, with those— like always— too perfect teeth.

"Where to?"

"Well, I've booked a restaurant for the family tonight, do you want to come with me to check that the reservations are correct? Remember that mix up a few months ago? I don't want that to happen again tonight, seeing as it is your grandparents' fiftieth anniversary."

"I'll pass," I reply with a yawn, going back upstairs lazily.

"AUTUMN RUBY BISHOP!" I run back down the stairs out of fear, almost tripping over my own feet, "DON'T YOU EVER EVEN DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT AGAIN! YOU NEED SOME FRESH AIR AND A CLEANUP ON YOUR ATTIUTUDE! GET READY AND GET IN THE DAMN CAR!"

"Please don't kill me, I'll go for a drive with you, it'll be fun, we'll bond o-or something. Ju-just please don't kill me," this probably seems like I'm being over-dramatic, but I really am that scared of my mum when she's like this.

"Well that sounds great, get anything you need to entertain yourself, then we'll leave," my mum goes back to the smile, she's too bipolar, it scares me more than if she were just angry all the time.

I go back to my temporary room. I've only got one bag here, and it's for everything I brought here. Being too lazy to unpack everything, I shove my laptop, headphones, charger, and book into my bag that's filled up with everything else I brought here.

'_Should entertain me for the car ride.'_ I swing my bag onto my shoulders― momentarily noticing that it's lighter than usual― and walk downstairs.

"Ready?" Asks my mum, as she says this, she gently pulls her short and straight blonde hair back behind her ear.

"I guess. I only packed the bare essentials," I reply, while still walking towards the door, which I open upon reaching it. "Ugh." It's raining. Damn rain, it doesn't care that I have a laptop in my bag. "Stupid spring, it can't make up its mind whether it wants to rain or not, it was sunny a moment ago."

"You told me the other day that you like the rain..."

"Usually, but not with my laptop, I can't have water getting into it. Plus, you've gotta agree with me that spring is way to volatile to be a normal season. In spring I think it's possible to get heatstroke in the morning, then hypothermia in the afternoon, most seasons just chose one or the other."

"I don't think that's possible; and you do realise that you're laptop is in your bag, don't you?"

"Water can soak through it, and into precious my laptop."

"But your laptop has that waterproof covering on it, I remember buying it for you."

"Whatever, I can't be bothered arguing, let's just get this over and done with, no point making it last longer." I reply and run to the car. Then— as you can probably guess— I slip. Staying standing up is not my specialty, I guess. "Shit!" I exclaim in pain, apparently the driveway hurts more to fall on than carpet, someone should have warned me.

"Autumn are you okay?" I landed on my hands and knees― at least it wasn't my head. My mum helps me to get back up; I use her shoulder for support. I turn my hands over to look at the damage done. My palms are severely scraped; there is also a trance of small stones and mud. My left palm is bleeding, and my right wrist is covered in fresh cuts.

"Great I look like a cutter," I continue to limp forwards, "I should do a youtube tutorial: how to look like a cutter in ten seconds, without actually cutting yourself." My left leg twinges in pain, "I don't even wanna look at my legs."

"You want to go back in the house?"

"No, now I actually want to go. Bad things happing, bad luck and all that are a sign of something good coming, I take it as a good sign. Even if I can't walk. It's like the theory of equivalent exchange."

"Are you sure you aren't too badly hurt?"

"Yep, I'm only dying."

"Autumn you're just strange." My mum leaves me to stand by myself as she gets in the car, and I trail behind her. As I sit down, I place my bag by my feet.

"No, Mum. This is strange," she looks to me, and I begin to lick the blood off of my hand.

"That's disgusting."

"Mmm, tastes salty."

"Stop that," she looks down at me disapprovingly, I smile back evilly, showing teeth, and braces. Mum starts the car, trying to ignore my strangeness.

My hands aren't too painful, and as long as I keep my legs still, they don't bother me either. After a couple of minutes of boredom, I look out the window.

"It's still raining," I state. Mum turns on the windshield wipers. I pick at my finger nails, then tap against the window with them. I look at a raindrop, I tap the glass near it and it falls. "Ame wa itsuka yamunodeshouka," I sing, well I really just say the words. I honestly can't sing, but I sing constantly, for the sake of annoying everyone around me.

"Autumn?"

"Zuibun nagai aida tsumetai."

"What are you doing?"

"Singing an anime opening."

"Why?"

"I'm bored and it's raining, it seems to fit seeing as the song's called "Rain"."

"Can you please not sing?"

"Fine, I thought my singing was good though. I guess you derive pleasure and a sick sense of satisfaction from lowering my self-confidence. I might start thinking that I'm not good at anything, do you want me to become self loathing and depressed?"

"Ugh, fine you can sing then."

"What are you talking about? I don't want to sing," I reply with a smirk.

"You know sometimes I feel like strangling you?"

"It's good to have mutual feelings with people, it shows you're on the same wavelength, which shows good communication. Good communication can show good mother daughter bonding, which is what you wanted, right?" Mum then huffs out of annoyance, she's probably mentally muttering various vulgarities at me. "Yay, Autumn Logic wins again."

We continue to drive forward for a little while, then we turn a corner. I twist a small bunch of my hair around my finger, one of the many by-products' of my boredom and impatience. My mum brushes away her annoyance at me and tries to start a conversation.

"So, how are you doing in school?" School? I just remembered, I've got to go back to that hellhole.

"Meh, okay I guess."

"Having fun?"

_'No'_

I shrug, "sorta, it's okay."

'_Why do we have to talk about school?'_

"Anything you're doing good in?"

"Can we change the subject?"

"Why do you always sound so unenthusiastic about things like school? You're so good at everything."

_'Because school― like quite a few things in my life― is my own boring yet tortuous personal Hell from which there is no escape...'_

"Uh," I shrug.

We continue our drive for a few minutes. "Didn't we just pass the restaurant?"

"What? Where?"

"Over there," I reply while pointing.

"It's okay I'll turn around." Mum begins to make a U-turn. Then I hear the sound of a loud explosion in the distance. Bricks, rubble and dust fly into the air. The car shakes violently. Mum stops the car. We are both thoroughly shocked. Then I hear an almost electrical zap, followed by smaller explosions of sound. From the rubble and dust two figures emerge, in the middle what appears to be a fight. The first one is tall and completely on the offensive. The other is small, they're continuously dodging the taller ones attacks, and they keep looking like just a blur of red.

The smaller one gets a safe distance from their attacker. They clap their hands together, then a flash of bright blue light momentarily blinds me. I stare at them both for seconds that feel like hours, then the penny drops, and I realise what I'm seeing.

"Alchemy," I breathe the word.

'_No alchemy doesn't exist, I wish that alchemy's real, but it isn't.'_

'_But, that's alchemy,' _then I'm hit by a burst of recognition, _'and that's Edward Elric... And he's fighting Scar...'_

'_And this can't be real, it just can't be.'_

'_Maybe... I don't know, I guess there's only one way to find out,'_ then I do the stupidest thing I've ever done in my whole life. You know the revenge bent serial killer who will kill anyone who get's in his way, and who is also in the middle of an epic battle with an extremely talented― but destructive― State Alchemist? Yeah, well I swing my bag onto my back, jump out of the car and run towards them, because I have a lot of common sense.

"Autumn! What are you doing?" Yells my mum, getting out of the car to chase after me.

"No time to explain," I reply.

Pain bolts straight through my left leg, "DAMNIT!" I fall to the ground.

"Get outta the way! You'll get hurt!" Exclaims a familiar voice, then I'm shoved backwards. I look to my side to see Scar's right hand planted in the broken road beside my head. I look to the person who pushed me out of the way, oh my god it's Edward Elric! I realise that if Ed hadn't pushed me out of the way I could've just died. I scramble to my feet clumsily. I know Scar won't go out of his way to attack me, but if I stay in his path it's a definite that I'll die. I limp away slowly. I hear another loud explosion from behind me, then I'm knocked forwards, and I slam into the road. I scream out in pain, I'm probably not too badly injured, but it hurts a lot.

I hear the sound of sirens; I see blue and red flashing lights. I get up, reassured by the police cars. Then I see Ed running away. I half run, half limp after him.

"Hey!" I call, "stop!" I need to get his attention. "Hey! Tiny little shorty, get over here!" He stops instantly, and turns to face me. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TINY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK WHO YOU NEED A MICROSCOPE TO EVEN SEE!" He was waving his arms around frantically.

"Just come over here." He just stands there and looks pissed. Then there's another explosion, the ground shakes and I hear the cars behind me crash against the ground. "Let's just run!" I call out already running towards him, my leg hurts like hell, but I've only got two options. Option One: I stay alive AND go off with Edward Elric, while having to put up with a little pain; or I could go with Option Two: I die, but at least my leg won't be hurting. Once I reach Ed, he begins to run too, trying to match my slow pace.

After running for a long time, I slow down. I notice that the rain must have stopped while we were running. "I can't run anymore." I pant as I come to a stop. "Sorry, I'm just, completely, out of breath." He stops and looks back at me. My eyes meet with his gold ones. "So you're really Edward Elric?"

"Yeah. How do you know that?"

"The alchemy, and you were fighting Scar. You have golden eyes and golden hair tied into a braid. You have serious problems with your height, plus you have a glove on your left hand but not on your right, and I can clearly see your right hand is metal. In your pocket is your silver State Alchemist pocket watch, I can see it's chain. Then there are other smaller signs like the red coat you're wearing with the flamel symbol on the back."

"Wow, that's pretty observant."

"Or stalkerish, both descriptions fit me nicely."

"Why didn't you notice those things this morning?"

"What?!"

"You don't remember me being at your house a couple of hours ago?"

"That was you? You mean THAT was you? That was really you? Really? Really? Really?" He nods at each question, but I still can't process it, "REALLY? So I slept in the same room as Edward Elric? Ooh..." My thoughts wonder for a moment, then I continue, "and I didn't even offer you any bacon, I should be ashamed of myself." Before I know it, I've crossed the distance between us and wrapped Ed in a tight hug, that squeezes his arms to his sides. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Can you let go of me, I can't breathe." He tries to push my away.

"No never, I can't ever let go." I hug tighter. Ed gets his arms free and holds me back. "I can't believe you're real."

"What did you say...?"

_'Shit, I shouldn't have said that.'_

"Um, well I said... I can't believe it's really you, I've heard so much about the youngest State Alchemist ever, that I can't believe I'm really meeting you."

"No you didn't, you said "I can't believe you're real." What did you mean?" I look into his eyes, those golden eyes, and I can't lie to him. Damn him and his golden eyes.

"I'll explain, but I-I need to show you something first."

I try to assess whether he's from the manga, the 2003 anime, or Brotherhood. I remember his pocket watch, it was silver, and he recognised State Alchemist not National Alchemist, so that rules out the manga. I walk from the middle of the road to the pavement, and sit down onto the curb. Ed follows me, but stays standing. I pull my bag off of my back, open it, and retrieve my laptop. "How old are you?" I ask, while logging into my laptop.

"Fifteen," he replies immediately. I type in my username: _"God"._

"And... Have you ever fought with someone called Isaac McDougal, the Freezing Alchemist?" I ask as I type in my password: _"TheULTIMATEpAsSwOrD"_, there are so many things I could've asked him, but that was the first thing that came to mind.

"Yeah, just recently, how do you know about that?" Brotherhood then.

"I was just wondering..." I rummage through the front compartment of my bag, I need one of my many flash drives'. I find the one I was looking for, a red flash drive with "FMAB" written on the back with a black permanent marker. I plug my flash drive in and click on episode one. I fast forward to when Ed first confronts Isaac McDougal. I turn the laptop around to face him.

"What a nasty thing to do," I hear Ed say in the episode.

"You of all people should know great deeds require great sacrifice, isn't that the law of equivalent exchange?"

"Save your breath, the laws of alchemy don't justify murder!" I hear the electrical sound of alchemy and the change in the music.

"That's me! How does that thing work?" Ed asks. I pause it.

"I thought you were fictional, that you only existed in an anime."

"A what?"

"A type of motion picture film thing, for lack of better words."

"But I'm real! I'm not some made up character!"

"I'm not saying you are!"

"What are you trying to say then?!"

"That this another universe— or parallel world, whatever you want to call it— where there isn't alchemy or stuff related to it, and it's the future."

"What? It's the future as well?"

"Yep, about a hundred years from when you're from."

"Really?"

"Yeah, don't you remember the car you road in?"

"I remember it." He doesn't say this like it's a fond memory.

"Well, don't you think that it's sort of futuristic?"

"I guess it was, but saying this is the future sounds far fetched, it's to much of a jump without any scientific proof or plausibility."

"It's the truth, and it's no more "far fetched" than two brothers who tried to bring their mother back to life through alchemy. But they fail in their attempts and lose their arm, leg, and body in the process, where's the "scientific proof or plausibility" in that?"

"So you know about that?" He sits next to me. "As for the scientific plausibility, it works on one of the most basic and fundamental laws of the universe: you can't make something from nothing, to create you must lose something of equal value."

"Whatever, I still win."

"Win what?!"

"The argument."

"What argument!"

"The one that I won!"

"We weren't even arguing!"

"But you just argued that it wasn't an argument, which makes this an argument."

"..."

"Yay! I win again! Autumn reigns supreme!... Wait, remind me, what were we talking about again?"

"You said that this is a different dimension," Ed says.

"Oh yeah I did. Well it is. And in this world it's the future. My word is the proof, and it's the only proof you should need, 'cause I'm awesome that way."

"It doesn't sound possible."

"Like I said, it's the truth, why would I lie to you? And the only other explanation is that I'm crazy... I know I can sometimes seem a little on the crazy side, but I assure that I could possibly be slightly sane occasionally. Anyway it's the pure honest truth, cross my heart, and hope to die; if I lie stick two needles in my eyes, and let me die, and after I die sell my soul to any soul accepting anime character... Which is a lot, I guess... Or something along those lines."

"Uh, I don't know whether to believe you or not... It's just..."

"Throw away all that reason, skepticism, cynicism, and science, take a risk in trusting me... They are the four things I believe in most, yet when I saw you use alchemy and I forgot all of them, and let myself believe that you're real. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong, maybe you should do the same."

"Alchemy is a science, so I don't know why you would throw all that away just because I was performing a transmutation."

"I told you before, alchemy doesn't work here," I try to keep my voice at a level monotone, but I'm getting frustrated with repeating it.

"But alchemy is a science, science can't just be turned off! And anyway, I can still use alchemy, so it does work here!"

"I guess you can use alchemy, but people from here can't, trust me I've tried," I say, thinking of all my school books that I've covered with a countless number of transmutation circles.

"Maybe it's just too complicated for you."

"Are you calling me stupid?! I'm not an idiot!"

"You could have fooled me!"

_'Don't argue again. Don't argue. Don't argue!'_ I try to restrain myself, _'remember, this is Edward Elric sat next to me, don't argue with him, don't mess this up. This is a fangirl's dream, don't mess it up.'_ I bite down on the inside of my lip hard, in a effort not to argue with Ed any more than I already have. I release my lip.

"All want to do is help you, I assume that you want to get back to Amestris, I'll help you. You don't have to trust me if you don't want to, but it'll be easier if you do. I know what you and Al have been through, and—"

"Ugh, I just remembered, Al was with me when I somehow ended up here... What if something's happened to him!"

"Hey! I was I having a dramatic speech! You ruined the moment!" Then I realise how much terror is in his eyes for his little brother, "I mean, calm down, Al will be fine, he's a great big almost invincible suit of armour, he's most likely just worrying about you, as much as you're worrying about him." I pat Ed's back trying to calm him, "so did Al end up here too?"

"I don't know... The last thing I remember, we were both surrounded by red light then... I don't know, I somehow woke up here."

"We should look for him then, lets go back to the place where you appeared, there's a chance that Al was brought there too, if he did end up here."

"But I waited there for hours, Al wasn't there."

"What if he went looking for you?" I stuff my laptop back into my bag, and get up while swinging my bag onto my shoulders. "C'mon lets walk there." As if out of defiance, pain shoots through my leg. I try to ignore the pain.

"Okay," Ed jumps upwards into a standing position, and we walk.

It's been at least an hour since Ed and me began walking... And we may be a tiny bit lost. "I thought you knew where we were going!" Ed yells.

"I thought you would! You don't pay attention to which way a car's going unless you're driving, but seeing as you managed to get to here from there on foot, I assumed you'd know!"

"Sorry, I was kind of distracted with running for my life from Scar!"

"Ugh! We're never gonna get there if we keep wandering aimlessly!" Then I want to slap myself, "for a complete and utter genius I really am stupid sometimes."

"What?" I'm not sure if he wants me to elaborate, didn't hear me, or he's surprised at my humbleness... Well lack thereof.

"I have my phone on me."

"How do you have a phone here? And even if you do, what good will do?" I smile.

"Ha, I pity you, along with everyone else from 1914." I reach into my bag and grab my iPhone. I use Google maps to find the approximate location of the road where I found Ed.

"That thing's a phone?"

"Yep."

"But it's so tiny and square. It doesn't even have a cord."

"It's a phone, plus it has other awesome features."

"Like what?"

"You can play music, set alarms, play games, use apps, and surf the web, plus it tells you the exact date and time, but that's only the basics, it does way more than that."

"That's incredible." He's looking over at my phone with awe. I never thought of my phone as advanced, it was always just a phone, but with the way Ed's looking at it I realise how amazing all the things I take for granted really are. It's making me think about how I take a lot of things for granted; a loving family, friends, my home, technology, food, and... Everything.

With the help of my phone we find the place in minutes, my sense of direction really is terrible. "No sign of anyone," comments Ed.

"Because you aren't looking properly. You need the help of a genius, like moi."

"Genius? I'm looking I can't see any geniuses."

"I'll choose to ignore that blasphemous comment that bears insult against my extensive intellect." I look at my surroundings. There are no houses or buildings beside this road. On one side of it is a stone pathway that leads to the beach; on the other side are a couple dozen trees that are at least three metres from the road. There isn't much grass near the trees, mainly dirt, weeds, and unkempt shrubs.

"You need a brain to have intellect."

"I'm being the BIGGER person here, by not turning around and breaking your neck."

"IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN SOMETHING!?"

"Yes Ed, it means you're a midget, with a temper almost as short as you."

"WELL AT LEAST I'M TALLER THAN YOU!" I turn to my right, and face him full on with a death stare.

"I'll think you'll find you're mistaken, I think you'll find I'm the taller one." I'm not shorter than Edward Elric. I may not be the tallest person around *cough* *cough*, but I'm definitely TALLER than HIM.

"No I'm taller than you."

"Look short-assed midget," I move closer to him and compare our heights with my left hand. "See I'm taller."

"No you aren't." Of course I am. What's he talking about? Oh... If you include his antenna-like piece of hair, he's about half a centimetre taller than me.

"Hair doesn't count," I'm taller than him if hair doesn't count, damn that hair flicky thingy. Anyway hair does not count! Otherwise I could hold my hair up and add it to my height.

"Like hell it doesn't!"

"It doesn't!"

"Well I say it does!"

"It doesn't, so cry a fucking river, build a bridge, and get the hell over it. I can't understand why you're arguing anyway, I thought you were the one who desperately wanted to find his little brother."

"Lets just look for Al then, but just for the record, I'm taller than you." Has no-one ever been shorter than him? I thought that through the years the average height of the worldwide population increases anyway, shouldn't his 4'11 - 5'3 be tall, or at least average in his time.

"So is this where Scar appeared as well?" I ask while gesturing around me with both of my arms.

"Yeah."

"Where?" Ed looked around for a moment; he pauses as if thinking, then he walks to the tree side of the road.

"I don't know exactly where but it was on this side of the road." Then Ed stops in his tracks. "Wait... Can you hear that?" Asks Ed.

"Hear what?" He doesn't answer me, instead choosing to keep walking forwards. Then he stops again. He drops to his knees and puts his left ear to the ground. I put down my bag, and follow Ed's lead. Once my ear begins to near the ground I hear talking, which is weird, because I don't know where it could be coming from.

"Another failed experiment?" It's a woman's voice.

"Y-yes, it devoured them." That one is definitely male.

"Didn't one of them succeed, though?"

"Yes."

"Well where's that lab rat?"

"He escaped."

"ESCAPED?"

"Yes."

"Well go get him back then!"

"He's already used the portal..."

"You really are an idiot. If you can't get him back, find another one! Same world, same Blood Totem, slightly different location, that way the disappearance will go unnoticed and there will be a higher chance of the process succeeding."

"Okay."

"Take more than one this time. You must take them from the usual area's, some from that Todesarray, some from Cerclesang, and some from Newfall. Make sure to activate the circles at different times."

"Yes. I will." There's a pause. "I forgot to tell you, he know's how to feed it."

"The portal?"

"Uh-huh."

"Have you traced it's interference? Do you know where it is?"

"Yep, I even reactivated it, and it brought someone back with it... In the greater scheme of things they may be useful, and may not be, I'll be taking them to Cerclesang, so I can activate all the circles from there."

"That's a good plan, hopefully you'll be able to make up for your incompetence with a good execution of this plan."

"Oh, I will, I swear it." Then it all went silent, I can't hear them any more, and I doubt Ed can either.

"What the fuck was that?" I ask, while getting up, Ed also gets up.

"I have no idea," replies Ed.

"It was just so... So weird. Firstly where the Hell were the voices coming from? Secondly, what the fuck were they even talking about? It was just nonsense, even though I strangely enough know two of the places they mentioned, like Todesarray is the name of this town, and I

m from a city called Newfall..." I'm babbling on about the things they said, I don't think Ed's even listening, but some of this stuff could be important... Maybe.

"Autumn?" I need Ed to say my name more, maybe every time he talks to me, I like hearing my name said through his voice. Note to self; order Ed to always say my name when talking to me.

"What?"

"Al did end up here."

"How do you know?"

"Look," he points towards a gap in the trees and I look to where he's pointing. I see several footprints in the dirt, and they are almost definitely Al's. I've gotten to the point where I've watched so much FMA that I can recognise Al's footprints, that's just sad, or impressive, depends which way you look at it.

"Well, that means we'll be able to find him, I'm sure you both want to see each other again."

"Yeah."

After a moments pause, I hear a screech-like sound, and it's so piercing that it hurts, it's like nails being hammered into my ears. It's at a painfully high frequency. I put my hands over my ears in the hope of blocking the sound out, I see Ed do the same. "Where's that noise coming from!?" I yell, but Ed doesn't here me. Ed probably yelled something too, but I didn't hear him so maybe he didn't. Red light glows from the ground. Before I have time to do anything or even realise what's happening, I'm suddenly immersed in whiteness.

Where. The. Hell. Am. I?

* * *

**AN I can't emphasise how sorry I am for the long time between updates. **

**I believe those of you who have reviewed deserve a reply so here, I'll try to make them short so I don't make this chapter too long:**

**Dfire: Thanks so much for saying that, I know you wrote this review months ago and might not even read this, but if you are, know that I'm grateful.**

**The Fire Rain Alchemist: I'm glad you're enjoying it. I think I should work on that past tense/Present tense issue, thanks for the constructive criticism. Scar didn't pick the best of times to show up... And as you see, Autumn apologised for the bacon problem.**

**Lefay Strent: I think because she thought he was an FMA fan, in Autumn's mind it balanced out the fact that she thought he was crazy. Thanks for commenting :)  
**

**Ed's. Curious. Kitten: Each time I get a review that says this is good or to update soon, I celebrate for about half an hour... So your reviews made me really happy! :D**

**shanidani: Do seatbelt parts actually have names though...?... I understand how the mention of bacon made you hungry, Shani, it has the same affect on any sane person... You better write me another review, otherwise I'll keep bugging you every five minutes to read this... Like I do before I update, with the unfinished chapters :P**

**Shiningheart of ThunderClan: I was going for muttering madman... But that works well to. **

**Ilovebooks: I get strange looks from people when I react out loud too. Heres the update, hopefully I'll write the next chapter quicker.**

**hmikulak: Well it's good that you're a Scar fangirl, if this turns out the way I want it to, Scar should make quite a few more appearances. Thank you so much for reading this.**

**Thank you for reading, favouriting, following, and/ or reviewing, it's hugely ****appreciated!**


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